Namibia: Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta has inaugurated Namibia’s first solid recovered waste plant in Windhoek. The US$15.7m unit is a joint-venture between local company Rent-A-Drum and Ohorongo Cement, a subsidiary of Germany’s Schwenk Zement, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Rent-A-Drum will collect more than 12,000t of non-recyclable waste material that will be converted into alternative fuel for use by Ohorongo Cement. The waste plant has created 60 jobs.

Trinidad & Tobago: Kazim Hosein, the minister of Local Government and Rural Development, is considering allowing the Trinidad Cement company to burn waste fuels at its cement plant. This follows a visit by Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon to the plant, according to the Trinidad Express newspaper. The cement producer has proposed burning waste fuels as part of an expansion plan.

UAE: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Arkan have agreed to test using spent smelter pot inner lining as a fuel in the cement producer’s kilns. EGA will provide between 1000 – 3000t of the pot lining to test as both fuel to fire the kiln and as refractory material to be incorporated in the finished cement produced at Arkan’s Al Ain plant, according to the National newspaper.

EGA produces about 37,000t/yr of pot lining and has already been testing the waste at other cement plants. The aluminium producer is jointly-owned by the Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

Ireland: Limerick City and County Council has given permission for Irish Cement to co-process alternative fuels at its local cement plant. Permission has been granted subject to 16 conditions, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. The cement producer has been seeking a licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres at its plant but it has faced local opposition.